One of the tastiest and most colourful of fiestas on Tenerife took place on the last Sunday in August in Tejina above the north coast. The celebrations surrounding the Hearts of Tejina (Corazones de Tejina) has been opened in the past by celebrities such as Julio Iglesias, but it still remains a secret to many British visitors to Tenerife.

Tenerife Magazine was there capture this little northern Tenerife town’s hearts

They might not be big enough to carry the hearts yet, but the children in Tejina are involved in the fiesta from a very early age.

Groups of traditional musicians (parrandas) accompany each of the hearts.

Shortly after midday the hearts receive a blessing in front of the church.

Then it’s a race to see which of the three streets involved can get their heart erected first.

The winners go on a tour of the other hearts, mocking them mercilessly for not being as quick…and not being as good.

In truth all hearts are fabulous creations; constructed with fruit so perfect that it looks like wax and elaborate pastries depicting traditional and mythical scenes.

The cobbled streets were claustrophobically dark and full of threatening, murky doorways. Wrought iron street lamps cast a soft golden glow which only served to create deeper shadows rather than light up my path. A cool breeze racing around the streets added a quiet howl to the scene that sent a shiver down my spine – partly because it was cold, but more because the atmosphere was freaking me out a bit. I felt as though I’d wandered into the pages of a Daphne Du Maurier novel.

I hunched my shoulders and hurried along alleys devoid of human form trying to keep my over active imagination at bay. But as I walked the situation took a nosedive when all the street lights were suddenly extinguished and I was plunged into total darkness. The silence was deafening and I held my breath for a few seconds…then I heard it; the rhythmic sound of a slow drum beat in the distance. I moved in the direction of the haunting sound then, as I turned a corner, the light from candles held high by gloved hands illuminated a scene which made my heart race. Four hooded figures in billowing white cloaks silently bore down on the spot where I was standing.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, I was just in time to see one of the highlights of La Laguna’s Easter (Semana Santa) celebrations; the highly emotive and completely mesmerising Silent Procession on the evening of Good Friday.

There are two poignant processions in La Laguna on Good Friday when hooded brotherhood after hooded brotherhood parade through La Laguna’s atmospheric old streets. The first, the Magna, takes place during daylight hours from 5pm (better for photography), whilst the Silent Procession leaves the Iglesia de la Concepción under the cover of darkness at 9.30pm.

For anyone who hasn’t previously witnessed Tenerife’s Easter processions, the first sight of the hooded brotherhoods can be quite disconcerting. It’s impossible not to think of the Ku Klux Clan who hijacked the look and completely corrupted it. Members of Tenerife’s brotherhoods remain anonymous behind conical hats for pious purposes, not cowardly like the clan. Although this unfortunate connection gives the brotherhoods a slightly sinister look, it also helps ramp up the atmosphere a few notches taking it well into slightly unnerving territory. It goes up a few notches more when other brotherhoods in monk’s robes with bare feet chained at the ankles and dragging full sized crucifixes appear on the scene.

Anyone who’s experienced any of Tenerife’s multitudinous fiestas knows that they’re usually the green light for an overdose of fun. Semana Santa is very different; this is a serious and solemn affair. It is the antithesis of the hedonistic excesses of carnaval with which it is intrinsically linked.

The solemn religious nature of Semana Santa’s celebrations might put some people off the idea of travelling to the former capital to witness the Easter processions. However, if that’s the case, think about this:
There might be fiestas which are a lot more fun, but believe me, few will remain etched on the memory for quite as long as the vision of La Laguna’s cloaked brotherhoods silently treading streets as old as the conquest of the island.

Good Friday falls on 2nd April 2010.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS OF THIS YEAR’S MAGNA PROCESSION

Have you ever noticed that there’s something missing from Tenerife’s countryside? Drive along winding lanes backed by eye-catching landscapes and a nagging voice whispers that there’s something incomplete about the scenes of neatly tended terraces and sweeping valleys. It takes a while for the penny to drop; there are no farm animals, nada, not one. No pigs, no sheep, no cows. You might spot the occasional herd of goats but apart from that the hills are devoid of moos, baas and oinks.

With this in mind, it’ll come as somewhat of a surprise to anyone venturing to Buenavista del Norte or San Antonio in La Matanza on Sunday 24th January to discover that a couple of wayward arks seem to have dumped their cargo in the streets of both towns.

That's what you call a pampered pooch

This is the biggest day of the year in Tenerife’s animal world. The Fiestas of San Antonio Abad, patron saint of the animal kingdom, involve hundreds of oxen, horses, goats, sheep, donkeys and hunting dogs taking to the streets to party. Okay, maybe ‘to party’ is a bit misleading; they’re there to be haggled over, prodded, bought and sold, but many end up with pretty rosettes and shiny cups, so that’s nice for them.

The atmosphere and format of the celebrations are much the same in both La Matanza and Buenavista del Norte. During San Abad these agricultural strongholds feel like a frontier land where caballeros (horesemen) race noisily through the streets; it’s a notion further fuelled by the sight of horses tied cowboy-style outside bars. For anyone whose experience of Tenerife is limited to sun-kissed beaches, it must be like stepping through a portal into a parallel universe.

Men in scarlet and black waistcoats and felt hats lean lazily on long poles with steel tips, removing chunky cigars from their mouths only to remark on the oxen, goats, donkeys, horses and hunting dogs tethered in the agricultural steel pens in front of them. It’s an aspect of Tenerife which has remained untouched by tourism and visitors to the island are still rare beasts at the San Abad celebrations.

Whilst the sight of traditional livestock is interesting in itself, it’s what’s to be found around the fringe that contributes the more unusual scenes. Terrapins in tupperware, rabbits with bows, ferrets, snake-clad girls and dogs in traditional Canarian costume are so commonplace that they hardly raise an eyebrow amongst seasoned San Abad fiesta-goers. Last year’s most surreal sight at Buenavista was a four-foot iguana squaring up to two Churchillian bulldogs. After that, the man with a green parrot on his shoulder leading a Shetland pony carrying a Yorkshire terrier in a wicker basket seemed almost ordinary.

Like many of the island’s fiestas, San Abad is a delicious assault on the senses. Makeshift restaurants, guachinches, send out aromas with one mission – to grab your nose’s attention and drag you against your will to the source and usually some irresistible spicy pork pinchos (kebabs). Ears are serenaded by flute and drum melodies from El Hierro accompanied by dancers swirling hypnotically in time to the strangely haunting beat. It’s a noisy, bustling and captivating affair which wins out over many of Tenerife’s other fiestas in that, although there is a prize-giving parade at the end of the afternoon, most of the day doesn’t involve standing around waiting for something to happen.
The most enjoyment is derived from simply wandering streets decorated by palm fronds and harvest baskets, soaking up the atmosphere and surreal spectacle of the animal’s fiesta -  providing you can avoid being completely distracted by trying to figure out where all these animals are kept hidden during the rest of the year.